weaver, aided by an assistant, or by ma- ried to an English lady, and settled as a chinery, has the command of each par- merchant at St. Petersburg, where the ticular thread by its number. He works son was born in 1783. His father dying by a pattern, in which the figure before when he was but three years old, his nim is traced in squares, agreeably to mother removed into Saxony, and her which the threads to be moved are select- son received his education at a German ed and raised before each insertion of the university. At the age of fourteen, he woof. Kidderminster carpets and Mar- quitted Germany for England, and, adoptseilles quilts are specimens of this mode ing the profession of medicine, attended of weaving.-Cross Weaving. This meth- lectures one winter at Edinburgh, and od is used to produce the lightest fabrics, then went to finish his studies at Jena. such as gauze, netting, catgut, &c. In Returning to Edinburgh to obtain a medithe kinds of weaving which have been cal diploma, he there formed an acpreviously described, the threads of the quaintance with sir Walter Scott, by whose warp always remain parallel to each oth- advice he devoted himself to literature as er, or without crossing. But, in gauze a profession. In 1808, he commenced weaving, the two threads of warp which his career by publishing a new edition of pass between the same splits of the reed, the Battle of Flodden Field, a Poem of are crossed over each other, and partially the Sixteenth Century, which was followtwisted, like a cord, at every stroke of the ed by Metrical Romances of the Thirloom. They are, however, twisted to the teenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuright and left alternately, and each shot, ries, from ancient Manuscripts, with an or insertion of the woof, preserves the Introduction, Notes, and a Glossary (3 twist which the warp has received. A vols.); and, in conjunction with Jamieson, great variety of fanciful textures are pro- he produced a work entitled Illustrations duced by variations of the same general of Northern Antiquities, from the earliest plan." Teutonic and Scandinavian Romances (1814, 4to.). In September, 1816, Mr. Weber became disordered in his intellects, in which state he remained till his decease, in 1818. Besides the works already noticed, Mr. Weber published editions of the Plays of Ford (2 vols., 8vo.), and of those of Beaumont and Fletcher (14 vols.); but his execution of these undertakings did not add to his reputation; and his errors, as a dramatic commentator, were exposed by Mr. Gifford. WEBER, Godfrey, a theoretical and practical musician, born at Freinsheim, near Manheim, in 1779, studied law, and received an appointment as jurist, bût, at the same time, devoted himself to music. The flute and violoncello were his instruments. He subsequently occupied himself chiefly with the theory of music, and published numerous articles on this subject in the Leipsic and Vienna Musical Gazettes, in the great German Encyclopædia (edited by Ersch and Gruber), in the musical gazette called Cæcilia, edited by himself, &c. &c., and in his distinguished work, Essay towards a systematic Theory of the Art of Composition for Selfinstruction, with Notes for Scholars (2d ed., 1824 seq., 4 vols.), and his General Doctrine of Music, for Teachers and Learners (Darmstadt, 1822). He was eventually appointed advocate-general of the court of cassation in Darmstadt, and received titles and orders. He composed many songs, also a collection called the Lyre and Sword, not to be confounded with the songs under the same title composed by Charles Maria von Weber. (q.v.) There are also other compositions of his. He invented the musical chronometer. (See Time.) His inquiries respecting the genuineness of Mozart's requiem have involved him in various controversies. WEBER, Henry William, was the son of a native of Westphalia, who was mar WEBER, Charles Maria von, was born December 18, 1786, at Eutin, in Holstein, and received a very careful education. Painting and music occupied his attention in his leisure hours. His efforts in the former art were not without success. But music gradually took entire possession of him. As soon as his father observed the promise of distinguished talent in his son, he fostered it with great care. Towards the end of the year 1798, he went to Munich, and his talent for dramatic music began to develope itself. He wrote, under the eyes of his teacher, an opera called the Power of Love and Wine; also a mass, and other compositions, all of which he subsequently burned. Soon after, he became possessed with the idea of excelling Sennefelder's new invention of lithography. He thought that he had discovered a better process, and went with mis father to Freiberg, in Saxony, where all the necessary materials seemed to be at hand. But he soon gave up his idea, and with redoubled zeal resumed his application to his music. Six variations of his were published at that time in Munich. When a boy of fourteen, he composed an opera (the Maid of the Wood), which was performed in 1800, and acquired a celebrity subsequently disagreeable to the author, who had come to consider it a very immature production. In 1802, he made a musical journey with his father, and collected and studied theoretical works on music with the greatest zeal, and, having been led, by his own reflections, to study harmony thoroughly, formed a musical system of his own, in which he adopted the excellent rules of the old masters. He went to Vienna, where he became acquainted with the immortal Haydn, and with Vogler (q. v.), who received him with great kindness. By Vogler's advice, he gave up for a time, though with reluctance, the composition of large pieces, and studied for two years the works of the greatest masters. At the same time, he acquired great proficiency in playing on the piano. During this time, he published only a few small works. He then went, as musical director, to Breslau, where he composed the greatest part of Rübezahl, an opera by Rhode. In 1806, Eugene, duke of Würtemberg, induced him to go to Carlsruhe, in Silesia, where he wrote two symphonies, several concerts, &c. He soon after followed the duke to Stuttgard, where he wrote his opera Silvana; re-wrote his cantata the First Tone, several overtures, &c.; and composed much for the piano. In 1810, he set out for France, Munich, Berlin, &c., and wrote his opera AbuHassan. From 1813 to 1816, he directed the opera in Prague, where he composed the great cantata Battle and Victory, which, though imposing by its grandeur and copiousness of ideas, does not yet show a settled style. Living only for his art, he gave up his place, when his purpose-the entire reorganization of the opera, was effected. · În 1816, he lived in Berlin, where he received an invitation to form a German opera at Dresden, which he accepted, and to which he devoted all his powers. There he wrote, besides several instrumental pieces, various occasional cantate; a mass and offertorium (1818) for the day of the king's baptism, which was afterwards followed by a second one; and his Der Freyschütz (text by Kind), which was first performed in Berlin in 1821, and since that time has acquired universal reputation; and several melodies, which, like some of Mozart's, are sung, and even whistled, wherever Europeans or their descendants are found. At the same time, he composed the music for Preziosa. The uncommon success of Der Freyschütz procured him an invitation to compose an opera for Vienna, for which purpose madame de Chezy wrote for him Euryanthe, after an old French tale. This work occupied him chiefly from 1822 to the autumn of 1823; and, in September of the same year, he travelled to Vienna to direct its performance, which took place, for the first time, October 25, 1823. "It met with great applause. In 1824, Weber received from London an invitation to compose Oberon for Covent-garden theatre. The first act was sent him at the same time. He prepared himself for it by studying English. But the numerous duties of his appointment, often increased by the addition of those of his colleague, Morlachi, who was in ill health, and often went to Italy, together with his devotion to study, impaired his health. He went, in the summer of 1825, to Ems. Towards the end of 1825, he directed the performance of his Euryanthe on the stage of Berlin. His health grew worse in 1826. In February, he went to London, where he finished his magnificent Oberon, directed the performance of it, and on the day when Der Freyschütz was to be performed for his benefit (June 5), breathed is last. Weber made an epochi in opera music, produced much that was new, applied the instruments with great effect, and, in fact, gave a new life to the opera. The songs of the spirits in Oberon have a peculiarly ideal character. Unfortunately, his comic opera the Three Pintos, on which he had labored for several years, was left unfinished. Weber united many great musical qualities: he was not only one of the most original composers, a great performer, showing peculiar originality in piano playing, an ardent, judicious and intelligent director, equally at home in the asthetical and in the technical parts of his art, but also a very intellectual and accomplished man, with higher and more philosophical views of life than artists often have. Besides the works already mentioned, his published compositions comprise a number of instrumental pieces especially for concertando instruments, and calculated for accomplished performers (concerts, concertinos, pot-pourris and harmony pieces for the piano-forte, clarionet, bassoon, horn, violoncello, sonatas, variations, polonaises and dances, some symphonies, and a quintetto for the clarionet), various cantatas, vocal pieces for four voices, and songs (particularly the compositions of Körner's Lyre and Sword, which have become truly national songs of the Germans). The Posthumous Works of Ch. M. von Weber (Dresden, 1828), containing the results of his views and experience, are of much interest. Weber was an excellent man, a kind husband, a careful father, and faithful friend. WEBSTER, John, a dramatic poet of the seventeenth century, was clerk of the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, and a member of the company of merchant tailors. His works are the White Devil, or the Tragedy of P. Giordano Ursini, Duke of Bra\chiano, with the Life and Death of Vittoria Corombona, the famous Venetian Courtesan (1612); the Devil's Law-Case, a tragi-comedy (1623); the Duchess of Malfy, a tragedy (1623); Appius and Virginia, a tragedy (1654); the Thracian Wonder, a comical history (1661); and a Cure for a Cuckold, a comedy (1661). He was also the author of a pageant, exhibited in 1624, by the tailors' company; and he assisted Dekker in writing Wyatt's History. WECHABITES. (See Wahabees.) WEDDERBURN, Alexander, earl of Rosslyn, a distinguished English lawyer, eldest son of Peter Wedderburn, one of the senators of the college of justice in Scotland, was born in 1733, and bred to the law in his native country, but early removed to the Middle Temple, by which society he was called to the bar in 1757. He rapidly acquired reputation, and also obtained the patronage of the earls of Bute and Mansfield. He was appointed solicitor-general in 1771, in which office he insulted Franklin, in arguing before the privy council on American affairs. In 1778, he was made attorney-general, and, in 1780, chief justice of the common pleas, with the title of lord Loughborough. He adhered to the party of Mr. Fox when Mr. Pitt first came into power; but joined the administration, with many others, under the alarm produced by the French revolution in 1793, when he succeeded lord Thurlow as chancellor, which office he held until 1801, when he retired with the title of earl of Rosslyn. As a lawyer, he was able, plausible, subtle and eloquent; as a politician, rather a partisan than a statesman, but serviceable to the side which he espoused. He died without issue, January 3, 1805. Lord Rossly wrote a work on the management of prisons. WEDDING, WEDLOCK. (See Marriage, and Husband and Wife.) WEDEKIND, George Christian Gottlieb, haron von, was born in 1761, at Götting en, where his father was a professor, was graduated in 1780, and soon distinguished himself in various places as a practical physician and as an author. In 1787, he was appointed body physician to the elector of Mayence, and professor of medicine in the university of that city. But after some time, he lost the favor of the elector, who had been prejudiced against him by another physician. Wedekind was even accused of belonging to the sect of illuminati, but without grounds. Among his works are the following:-OL Medical Instruction (Frankfort, 1799); On the Effect of Confidence and the Way of Curing by Persuasion (Frankfort, 1790); Lectures on Inflammations (Leipsic, 1791); De vera Notitia et Curatione Morborum primarum Viarum, nec non de Morbis ex earundem Affectionibus oriundis atque cum iisdem complicatis (Nuremberg, 1792). When Mayence came under the dominion of the French, in 1792, Wedekind entered the French service as physician of the military hospitals. He wrote, whilst in this capacity, On Cachexy in general, and on Hospital Cachexy in particular (Leipsic, 1796), and Accounts of the French Military Hospitals (Leipsic, 1797 -98, 2 vols.). He also wrote against Jacobinism. By his Economical and Political State of France under her Constitution of the Third Year of the Republic (in favor of the directory), he obtained the civic crown. But afterwards, when the defects of the constitution became visible, he wrote against it, in his Letters on the Revolution of the 18th of Brumaire (1800). After Napoleon's government had become oppressive, Wedekind gave up his rights as a French citizen, and became body physician to the grand duke of Hesse-Darmstadt. Among his later works is a treatise On the Typhus or tha Contagious Nervous Fever (1814), which has been translated into English, Spanish and Portuguese, and one On the Value of Medicine (1816). Of his numerous other medical treatises, many are given in his article in the German ConversationsLexicon. He has also written On the Changes which the Spirit of the Time requires to be made in the Institution of Nobility (1816), and On the Destination of Man (Giessen, 1827). WEDGE. (See Mechanics.) WEDGWOOD, Josiah, an ingenious improver of the pottery manufacture, was born in July, 1730, and was the younger son of a potter, to whose business he succeeded. He soon distinguished himself by his discoveries of new species of earthien ware and porcelain (q. v.), as well as by the taste and fancy displayed in the forms and decorations of the various results of his ingenuity. So important was the result, that in a very few years he turned the current of importation of the finer earthen wares into that of exportation. In 1763, he obtained a patent for a new species of ware, which received the name of queen's ware, and, continuing his experimental researches, added six other different species of ware to the English manufacture. He was versed in several branches of natural philosophy, and invented a pyrometer (q.v.) for measuring the higher degrees of heat employed in the various arts. He was also the proposer of the Grand Trunk canal, uniting the Trent and Mersey, and subsequently communicating with the Severn and the Grand Junction canal. To this navigation, which was of the greatest benefit to the pottery district, he added a turnpike-road, ten miles in length, which gave still greater facilities to that extensive branch of manufacture. His own pottery was Newcastle-under-Line, in Staffordshire, where he built a village, which he called Etruria. In 1786, he was the promoter of an association in London, denominated the general chamber of the manufactures of Great Britain; and he much distinguished himself by opposing Mr. Pitt's proposition for adjusting the commercial intercourse between Great Britain and Ireland. His death took place January 3, 1795, in his sixty-fourth year. To great public spirit and an open hand in the distribution of the large fortune which he acquired by his spirit and enterprise, in beneficial objects and institutions, Mr. Wedgwood united great private benevolence, and was a benefactor to the poor in the most enlarged sense of the term. He was a member of the royal and antiquarian societies. (See White Ware.) near WEDNESDAY; the fourth day of the week (in Latin, dies Mercurii, whence the French Mercredi, the Italian Mercoledi, &c.). The Germans call it Mittwoche (mid-week). The English name is derived from the old Scandinavian deity Odin or Woden, In Anglo-Saxon, it is Vodensdag; in Swedish, Odensdag; in Dutch, Woensdag. We find the same prefix in the name of some English towns: Wednesbury, Wednesfield, &c. (See Week. See, also, Ash-Wednesday.) WEEK. The week approaches pretty nearly to a quarter of a lunation; but this division of time has no obvious foundation in nature. It appears, notwithstanding, to have prevailed very extensively, over the world from the earliest times and, what is remarkable, the days of the week are generally named after the sun and planets, only six planets having been known to the ancients. This manner of distinguishing a series of seven days is found to be the same among the ancient Egyptians, Indians and Chinese. Still the order is not that of the distances, magnitude or brightness of the planets. The following ingenious conjecture has been adopted to account for the origin of the names and arrangement of the days of the week:-The planetary arrangement of Ptolemy was thus: 1. Saturn; 2. Jupiter; 3. Mars; 4. the Sun; 5. Venus; 6. Mercury; 7. the Moon. Each of these planets was supposed to preside successively over each hour of the twenty-four of each day, in the order above given. In this way, Saturn would preside over the first hour of the first day, Jupiter over the second hour, Mars over the third, the sun over the fourth, and so on. Thus the sun, presiding over the fourth, eleventh and eighteenth hours of the first day, would preside over the first hour of the second day; and, carrying on the series, the moon would preside over the first hour of the third day, Mars over the first hour of the fourth day, Mercury over the first hour of the fifth day, Jupiter over the first hour of the sixth day, and Venus over the first hour of the seventh day. Hence the names of the days yet used in the learned professions: 1. dies Saturn (Saturday); 2. dies Solis (Sunday), 3. dies Luna (Monday); 4. dies Martis (Tuesday); 5. dies Mercurii (Wednesday); 6. dies Jovis (Thursday); 7. dies Veneris (Friday). The English names of the days of the week are derived from the Saxons, and are partly adopted from the more civilized nations of antiquity. (For the etymology of the English names, see the separate articles.) WEENINX, John Baptist, a celebrated Dutch painter, was born at Amsterdam, in 1621. He was the son of an architect, and became the pupil of Abraham Bloemart. After residing some time in Italy, he returned to Holland, and settled at Utrecht, where he died in 1660. He painted small landscapes, animals and historical pieces with great accuracy and perfection, but was deficient in variety. His son John, born at Amsterdam, in 1644, was more distinguished. He studied at first under his father, and acquired great skill. in the delineation of animals. Still life, the chase dead game, &c., are represented in his works with an inimitable truth and great beauty of coloring. He died at Amsterdam, in 1719. WEEVIL (curculio); a genus of hardshelled beetles, easily recognised by having the head prolonged into a long horny snout, at the end of which the mouth is situated. By later naturalists, this has very justly been considered as a family of insects, and has been divided into numerous genera. These insects have four joints to each of the tarsi; the antennæ arise from the snout above mentioned, are usually clavate, and in most of the genera forin an angle at the apex of the first joint: the abdomen in all is large. The larvæ are entirely destitute of feet, and live, some in the interior of seeds, others in wood, in the interior of stems, under the bark of trees, in fruits, in the hardest nuts, and some even in the interior of the bodies of other insects. In their perfect state, all these insects feed on different parts of plants, but especially on leaves and the petals of flowers.-The weevil proper (calandra granaria) is best known on account of the ravages it commits among grain, sometimes destroying one third or one fourth of the whole crop. Each larva, as soon as born, penetrates into the interior of a grain, and feeds on its substance till it has attained its full size; then undergoes a change, and takes the form of a chrysalis; and in due time the perfect insect perforates the hull, which is now nearly empty. It is a European insect, and in that continent its ravages are chiefly felt. Great complaints are, however, made of the weevil among wheat, in certain parts of the U. States, and particularly in Virginia. Having never seen a specimen of this American weevil, we are unable to decide upon its identity with the above; if identical, it must have been, by some meaus, introduced from Europe into this country.-The C. oryza very much resembles the preceding. It lives in rice, but is observed to attack principally those grains from which the hulls have not been detached. WEGSCHEIDER, Julius Augustus Louis, doctor, one of the most celebrated of the (so called) rationalist theologians of modern times, was born in 1771, in Kübbelingen, in Brunswick, where his father was a preach Two works, written during this period, Ethices Stoicorum recentiorum Fundamenta ex ipsorum Scriptis eruta atque cum Principiis Ethices, qua critica Rationis practice secundum Kantium exhibet, comparata (Hamburg, 1797), and An Attempt to present the Chief Principles of a Philosophical System of Religion in Sermons (Hamburg, 1801), show how zealously he devoted himself, at that period, to philosophy, particularly that of Kant, and theology. To these sermons is prefixed a treatise on the mode of awakening an interest in religion, in which he shows how a liberal and frank address to the reason should be united with a judicious operation on the feelings. He also produced a work dedicated to Jacobi (q. v.), On the Separation of Morals from Religion, demanded by Modern Philosophy (Hamburg, 1804). Ir 1805, he yielded to his inclination for an academical life, and went to Göttingen, where he settled as magister legens and theological repetent. On this occasion, he wrote a treatise De Græcorum Mysteriis Religioni non obtrudendis (Göttingen, 1805), soon followed by his learned Introduction to the Gospel of John (Göttingen, 1806). In 1806, he accepted the professorship of theology and philosophy at Rinteln, after the university of Göttingen had conferred upon him the degree of doctor of theology. In 1810, when the university of Rinteln was abolished, he received a professorship in Halle, and published The First Epistle of Paul to Timothy, translated anew and explained, with Reference to the latest Inquiries respecting its Authenticity (Göttingen, 1810). In this work he refuted the doubts which Schleiermacher had raised respecting its authenticity, in a small treatise in 1807, and showed that, if it cannot be proved beyond doubt that Paul wrote the Epistle, this is infinitely more probable than any other hypothesis. Wegscheider lectures on the exegesis of the New Testament, the history of dogmas, and particularly dogmatics. In 1815, he published his Institutiones Theologia Christiane Dogmatice, of which there appeared, in 1826, a fifth edition, enlarged. In this work, the opinions of the super naturalists respecting ecclesiastical dog mas, are criticised according to the views of the rationalists, and a system of Christian dogmatics presented according to the principles of rationalism, and, for the first time, carried through consistently by Wegscheider. He directed the exercises of a theological society of students, which, in 1826, became a department in the royal |